


it's another day waking up alone

by 5ambreakdown



Series: folklore [1]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: F/M, Late night thoughts, alexis is sad but okay!, if dan levy didn't want me to write this fic he would have announced an alexis spin-off, we love growth and development
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:19:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26482540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5ambreakdown/pseuds/5ambreakdown
Summary: alexis misses ted, so sometimes she sits herself out on her balcony in the middle of the night, a familiar locket around her neck.
Relationships: Theodore "Ted" Mullens & Alexis Rose, Theodore "Ted" Mullens/Alexis Rose
Series: folklore [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1925257
Comments: 6
Kudos: 58





	it's another day waking up alone

Alexis was lying when she told David that the succulent was the last thing left from her relationship with Ted. The locket that she had to wrestle from Twyla’s giving hands never went anywhere after they broke up, but David doesn’t know that. He doesn’t know that she’s kept it in a special box, hidden away so that David or her mother couldn’t find it if they went snooping around her things, but close enough so that when David spent the night at Patrick’s and her parents were long asleep, she could pull it out on the particularly hard nights. The nights where all she wanted was to know that he was there, or just a quick text away, curled up in his own bed, even if she wasn’t there with him. But no, he was on some island in the middle of nowhere, too far away from Alexis. 

David also doesn’t know that she took the locket with her to New York. In fact, she placed the box safely in her carry-on bag, just in case the move became too overwhelming and she needed something to ground her. She absolutely did need something to ground her all of twenty minutes into her flight. She missed him, a lot, and she couldn’t quite place if knowing that that feeling - that gut-wrenching heartache - was mutual made it better or worse. She felt like absolute shit at the moment, so she went with the latter.

With the move into the apartment she found, scrapping up money to buy some temporary furniture, and starting up at Interflix, Alexis found herself finally busy enough to distract herself from Ted. 

Throughout the day, at least. 

Some nights, when there was a noticeable chill in the air and her hectic life slowed to a still, she would tug a blanket and a glass of wine out onto her modest balcony and just sit, her free hand fiddling with the locket around her neck. She would watch the cars drive by, the car horns and lights bringing her a strange comfort. She would see groups of friends or dates walk the streets, tipsy and stumbling after a night out, their giggles wafting their way up to Alexis’s perch. 

She wasn’t sad. Her job and life that she had built was incredibly fulfilling, and, as much as she loves Schitt’s Creek and misses her family, New York was where she belonged. The bustle and noise and unpredictability of it all was exactly where she was meant to thrive. But it still didn’t heal the part of her that wanted nothing more than Ted to be beside her, his arms wrapped around her underneath the blanket, sharing her glass of wine.

But it’s just her, keeping her self warm. 

She’ll find her way to bed at one point or another, the slight buzz from her drink blurring her thoughts away from what she doesn’t have.

She’s had her share of fun one night stands and brief relationships since, but nothing like before. It all pales in comparison, like there’s some mental block preventing her from ever sharing what she had with Ted. That warmth, the safety and the love and the happiness like nothing else she’s experienced could only ever exist with Ted. 

She knows now that she can love and love so damn hard, she’s not worried about never finding someone else. But, despite all that, she’s accepted that she’ll never feel anything as intense, as raw and tried. Alexis is okay with that. In all honesty, she _wants_ that to be just something between her and Ted. She wants that special place in her heart that only he can occupy; it’s something she’s made her peace with.

Still, it aches some mornings to wake up and see he’s not there. 

But she’s proud of him, she’s so fucking proud. She’s gone through the motions of their entire relationship, trying to find where things could have changed to ensure that they would have more time together. Maybe if she accepted one of his engagements or made the move to propose herself later down the line, or maybe if the whole Galapagos thing happened at any other time. Somehow, though, she knew none of that was right; she and Ted ended up exactly where they needed to be, when they needed to be, how they needed to be. She wouldn’t be the same person if anything changed, and she loves the person she’s grown into. She needed that pain and loss to fully understand how she felt about Ted - and she knows Ted needed it, too.

Her last breakup stung a little bit. She was busy with work those few months and couldn’t dedicate the time to the relationship the guy desired, so he called it off. Ever since, she’s been pulling out the locket a little bit more now. It provides her with a comfort and security that she’s been missing ever since she moved out of Schitt’s Creek. By God she’s thankful for the move, but having David and Patrick, Twyla, Stevie, and even Jocelyn just minutes away was a luxury unlike anything she’s ever known before. So it takes a little bit of getting used to not having that anymore.

She’s ventured to wearing the locket outside the confines of her apartment, protecting it under her dress, nestled against her chest, which is nice during especially intense days where she’s in and out of meetings and her clients are being a level of difficult that would put her own mother to shame. 

She’s felt so comfortable with it lately that she doesn’t bother taking it off when she facetimes her parents. It’s not like they would recognize it, anyway, but that pounding fear that they'll come to think she’s not over Ted has largely subsided.

Alexis doesn’t dare to have it anywhere in the open when David and Patrick facetime, though. As nonchalant and overly, many times inappropriately, sarcastic as he is, David is incredibly protective over Alexis. He watched over her during her heartbreaks over Ted in a way that she didn’t even recognize or realize at the time. 

When she called him to tell him that she and Ted broke up for the last time, he didn’t say a word or make a fuss, just picked her up from the cafe and drove her to Patrick’s. Although she was slightly confused to see a sun-kissed, frustrated-but-definitely-hiding-it-out-of-concern-for-Alexis Patrick, David didn’t let her ask any questions. He settled her in, making her tea and handing her one of his long sweaters to change into. He wrapped her up in a blanket on the couch, holding her for a few moments and planting kisses into the part on top of her head. Between her sobs and his tears, he switched places with Patrick, whispering about going to get something.

When the two of them drove back to the motel that night - despite David saying he was going to spend the night at Patrick’s - their room was devoid of any little reminders of Ted. Alexis was able to collapse onto her bed, still consumed in David’s sweater. He gently cleaned off her makeup, not saying a word about how that’s definitely not a sweater you can sleep in. David wrapped her up in his arms for the rest of the night until she fell asleep. He was still there in the morning, with a soft smile and ears that were ready to listen so long as she wanted to talk.

Alexis sure as hell couldn’t be caught wearing the locket around David, and Patrick, for that matter.

One evening, after a long day of meetings and people who refused to do the simplest of tasks, she found herself back out on the balcony. The starless sky and bright cityscape, mixed with a fair amount of wine, allowed for her to clear her mind and just stare. Her nerves calmed down and a solemn sort of peace fell over her.

Her phone buzzed at the small table beside her. Expecting a text from David or some emergency at work, she groaned at the interruption to see what could possibly be so pressing for someone to need to get a hold of her this late. 

Then her heart stopped and her mouth went dry. Her free hand immediately flew to the locket placed securely around her neck. Her stomach twisted itself into all sorts of contortions and her hands began to shake. 

Coming to her senses, she plastered on the most sincere smile she could, fixing her hair slightly so she didn’t look as rumpled as she felt, and answered the call.

Her voice came out a little hoarse, but there was no other face she would rather see. She didn’t know, after all this time, what it meant, but she was willing to see where it would take her. Hand drawing down from her locket into her lap, her smile small but genuine, she let go of her breath.

“Hi Ted.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first part of a new series i'm doing called 'folklore'! there will be 17 fics, each one inspired by a different lyric on the album. this is from 'the 1'.


End file.
